No Excuses - Do Your Research

As the internet simplifies our access to information we move towards a future of super editors and niche experts. From the comfort of our keyboard we rapidly drill down into specialist areas and utilise a range of tools - forums, peer reviews, comparison sites - to gain a greater understanding of what we’re being told and what might be relevant to our needs. This rapidity to information is a liberating experience and breaks down traditional barriers, even if some information is less than accurate.


Quentin Letts recent complaint about wikipedia - "you can't trust what they say" - is particularly ironic as he writes for that bastion of prejudice and misinformation, the Daily Mail, however accessibility presents a huge challenge to the traditional information gatekeepers, particularly those who thrive and manipulate information barriers. One sector close to my heart where a lack of transparency, allied to an asymmetrical relationship between seller and buyer, thrives is with the agents and advisors offering to "help" sell small businesses.


Asymmetrical information is where one party has more or better information than the other, which can then be used to disadvantage one party. Add this imbalance to the fact that business sales agents work in an unregulated marketplace and you have a value destroying cocktail where the unscrupulous can manipulate the imbalance and create need for their particular offer which might not, and often was not, in the client’s best interests.


The internet provides us with an outlet to investigate and discover some truths behind the spin and remove elements of caveat emptor (“buyer beware”). It has created a transparency that helps flush out the charlatan from the expert and enables the consumer to form a more educated view about the best option. It’s a particularly important tool when business owners consider who they should use to help sell their business. For many it’s a once in a lifetime experience and signing up to exclusive contracts with the wrong advisor can destroy value, just at the time when a seller is most prepared to sell.


When selecting an advisor to sell your business spend some time in advance reviewing peer forums, googling the name of your suitor and understanding how the market perceives their message. Selecting an advisor to sell your business is potentially the final business critical decision you have to make so utilise the magic of the internet to do your research. There is no excuse.